Rumors of underground lakes and pools have followed the Trigg county Justice Center’s land for generations. Last week, workers finally struck water beneath the building!

But, it wasn’t an underground lake or large spring.

On-site Project Manager David Welker of Codell Construction, said that workers found a cistern beneath the area that once housed the monuments at the site of the former courthouse.

“It had to come from one of the previous courthouses at the site. The cistern was enclosed, about 15 feet deep and nine feet in average width,” said Welker. “It’s on the front of the building, about dead under where the old statues were.”

Welker said that the cistern is made out of concrete, and contained about six inches of water, which workers removed. “It’s pretty old. You could tell it had been there a long time. How long has it been since people drank from cisterns?”

Rather than remove the cistern from the ground, workers filled it with flowable fill concrete. Welker said that it took 17 cubic yards of concrete to fill the void.

“It’s outside of the footprint of the new building so it won’t be a problem,” Welker said. “It will only be to the edge of the foundation and delayed us for about four hours.”

Welker said that progress continues on the building, expecting steel to be delivered next week. Last week, workers used a large drill to bore holes for elevator mechanisms.